“Inside the Capitol” examines key bills from the 89th legislative session that impact the Texas State and San Marcos communities. The session began on Jan. 14 and ends June 2. 

A person’s biological sex may be required on their identification cards under a new bill in Texas’ 89th legislative session. 

State Rep. David Lowe, R- North Richland Hills, introduced House Bill 2549 (HB 2549), which would require the inclusion of a person’s biological sex on licenses including, driver’s licenses, commercial learner’s licenses and personal ID certificates. 

“The application for the personal identification certificate must provide space for the applicant to identify the applicant’s biological sex as either male or female as determined at birth,” HB 2549 text stated. 

As of August 2024, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) does not accept court orders or amended birth certificates used to update gender marker changes in state and federal IDs, including driver’s licenses, social security cards and U.S passports.  

Under HB 2549, gender non-conforming markers and further changes would be made unavailable in identification cards. 

Lauren Gutterman, liberal arts associate professor at the University of Texas Austin who teaches LGBTQ+ history, said the bill erases and stigmatizes oppressed minority groups, posing a risk to transgender and nonconforming people. 

“This would forcibly out people as trans in daily aspects of their lives when they’re required to show a driver’s license or other personal identification,” Gutterman said. “So this could put trans people right at risk of harassment and even physical violence.” 

Basil Longoria, Bobcat PRIDE’s social chair, said the term “biological sex” is vague and often lacks a clear definition in legislation. 

“The [legislature] defines biological sex as the sex you were assigned at birth, but for some people, like intersex people, they might not be getting the right sex assigned at birth, so there’s room for clerical error within that,” Longoria said.  

An intersex person is someone born with physical sex characteristics—such as chromosomes, hormones or genitalia—that don’t fit definitions of male or female. 

On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued the “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government” executive order which stated the U.S. government only recognized two sexes, male and female, calling gender ideology “internally inconsistent,” and also required for federal documents, like passports, reflect people’s gender assigned at birth. 

“The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system,” the executive order stated. “Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety and trust in government itself.” 

Longoria said anti-trans policies not only affect the transgender community but the public’s mind as a whole. 

“If you’re disallowing people from expressing your true gender on their identification card, it kind of creates the subclass of people, of like, ‘Oh, these are transgender people, they’re not like the others, and I feel like it really alienates trans people in their own community,” Longoria said. 

Gutterman said HB 2549 takes part in a set of practices that aims to dehumanize and criminalize LGBTQ+ individuals. 

“This is a part of a longer legacy of identifying, often rounding up or pushing out of the nation people who, because they don’t fit mainstream norms in terms of their gender identity or their sexuality, are portrayed as a kind of threat to the nation,” Gutterman said. 

HB 2549 has been introduced and will next be read, referred to a committee for discussion and then voted on for presentation to the full House. 

Individuals interested in tracking this bill can do so on its website.